My name is David Bretz. I am the band director/music teacher at Mount Washington Middle School. On December 7th we gave our yearly Holiday Concert/Fundraising Auction and a fish fry.

I wanted to write to you and publicly express my sincerest thanks to all of those people and organizations who helped us and made our concert a huge success. I will try to mention as many people as I can, but please understand that if for some reason I left you off, it is no way a slight on you or your efforts. There are so many to thank and such a small space to do it. Each and every one of you are very important to all of us.

First of all, I want to say thank you to all the parents of all my students. I have never been to a concert of a middle school where there were so many parents and relatives that we had to go and get more chairs so the overflow had a place to sit. And even with that, some people still were standing. I am humbled by your dedication to your children and the support that you give them by being there when they perform. Without you, our program would not be headed in the direction it is. Thank you so much.

To Denise Allen, Shawn Pickett and the rest of the faculty and staff here at MWMS. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to these students here. To see so many of the staff and faculty members come to a concert of their students is almost unheard of. You gave up a night of your own, to support the students in their efforts. I am also humbled by your professionalism and your drive and dedication each and every day. Thank you so much.

To Tammy Farney, Lora Porter, Amy Kelty and Tammy Waddle, my band booster officers. Thank you for giving of your time and extraordinary efforts in helping these students achieve each and every day. You many not have day to day contact with the students but you do affect each and every one of them with your love and patience and selflessness. You give of your time and efforts and you have never once asked for one thing in return. With out you four around, this would be quite the undertaking for just one person. I honestly do not know how I would get this job done without you four. Thank you so much.

To the Lion’s Club of Mount Washington. Thank you for the incredible fish fry you hosted. Even in the sub-freezing temperatures, you pulled of one incredible meal for all the people that came and thoroughly enjoyed your hospitality. Thank you so much. I do hope we get the chance to do this again in the spring.

To all of the business and people that supported the auction by donating something, I just wanted to say thank you from all of us here at the Mount Washington Middle School Band. I want to thank J.C. Porter, Rick Pitino, Charlie Strong, Joker Phillips, the People’s Bank of Mount Washington, Valu-Market of Mount Washington, Publishers Printing Company of Shepherdsville, Hometown Pizza of Mount Washington, Amanda’s Creations, Main Street Market, the Lions Club of Mount Washington, Bullitt East Bowling Center, Great Wolf Lodge, the Corvette Museum, Gwen Harrod, Frazier’s International History Museum, Joe’s Crab Shack, Carraba’s Grill, Kart Kountry, Pirate’s Bay Water Park, Rave Cinemas on Preston Highway, Olive Garden, Aspen Creek, Lazer Blaze, Conrad Music Service, Joe Grom, Fast Chassis Race Cars, First Baptist Church, Kings Baptist Church and so many more for their generous donations of either items or services or time for our fundraising auction. With your willingness to give for the betterment of others, our students would not feel or have the success that they currently have.

Are we perfect? Of course not, no one is, but with such wonderful people in the world willing to show some generosity, even in these tough economic times, our world becomes a much better place for all of us to live. There are so many lessons we as teachers try to teach our students, and with examples such as these wonderful people, teaching those life lessons become much more easy.